April 27, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. -
Adding to her accomplishments, senior Samantha Richdale was announced to the 2006 MVC Women's Golf Scholar-Athlete First Team. Leading to this honor, Richdale remains the only women's golfer in Missouri Valley Conference history to win or share the league individual title three times (won in 2003, tied in 2004 and 2006).
One, of only two golfers, in Redbird history-and four in Valley history-to earn all-conference honors four times, Richdale is one of three MVC Conference medalists named to the team. A total of seven student-athletes earned first team scholar-athlete honors, and an additional two earned honorable mention status, including Illinois State senior Ashlie Rose.
Head coach Ray Kralis commends the two seniors on their hard work.
"A nice feather in their cap to go out," said Kralis. "In this strong academic conference, it is a great honor to be accomplished in the classroom and on the golf course. These two players set the bar high and are certainly very deserving of this honor."
Both student-athletes competed in all 32 rounds this season. Richdale, a Chemistry major, holds the record for the No. 1 scoring average in the Valley (73.938) as well as holding down a 3.38 grade point average. Rose, a business administration major, holds an even higher grade point average of 3.5 with a scoring average of 79.188. Both seniors contributed to Illinois State's back-to-back titles in 2004 and 2005, as well as a Redbird second-place finish at the 2006 State Farm MVC Tournament.
Kralis is sad to see these contributing seniors move on from their time at Illinois State.
"From a coaching standpoint, you hate to lose two people that excel in these two components," said Kralis. "Both Sam and Ashlie have proven that it is possible to excel in both academics and athletics. They offer a tremendous amount leadership to this team and really lead by example, setting the bar high for future student-athletes. These future student-athletes will be aware of the accomplishments of the past Redbirds."
